The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-10-05

what vineyard, or what house, or what
field he owned. Not one. OF what
mortgage was he the mortgagee? OF
what tenement was he the landlord? OF
what lease was he the lessee? Who ever
paid him rent Not owning the boat on
which he sailed, or the beast on which
he rode, or the pillow on which he
slept. He had so little estate that IN or
der to pay his tax he had to perform a
miracle, putting the amount Of the as
sessment in fish's mouth and having it
hauled ashore. And after his death the
world rushed in to take an inventory of
Of his goods, and the entire aggregate
was the garments he had worn. sleeping
in them by night and travelling in them
by day, bearing on them the dust Of the
highway and the saturation Of the sea.
Paul in my text did not go far from hit
ting the mark, did be, when he said Of
the missionary Prince: For your sakes
he became poor p
The world could have treated him bet
ter if it had chosen. 1t had all the means
for making his earthly condition com
Portable. Only few years before, when
Pompey, the general, arrived at Brindisi
he was greeted with arches and costly
column, which celebrated the IL, 600, 600
people whom he had killed or conquered,
and he was allowed to wear his triumphal
robe in the senate. The world had APP
plause for imperial butchers, but buffet
ing for the Prince of Peace. Plenty of
golden chalices for the favored to drink
out of, but our Prince must put his lips
to the bucket Of the well by the roadside
after he had begged for a drink. Poor?
Born in another mans barn and eating
at another man s table, and cruising the
lake in another man g fishing smack, and
buried ia another mans mausoleum.
-Four inspired writers wrote of his biog-
raphy, and innumerable lives of Christ
have been published, but he composed his
autobiography in a most compressed way.
He said: Il have trodden the wine press
alone. Poor in the estimation of nearly
all the prosperous classes. They called
him Sabbath breaker, wine bibber. traitor,
basphemer, and ransacked the dictionary
Of opprobrium from lid to lid to express
their detestation. / can think now Of
only two well to do men who espoused
his cause-Nicodemus and Joseph of Arr
mathea. His friends for the most part
were people who in that climate where
ophthalmy or inflammation Of the eye
ball sweeps ever and anon as a scourge,
had become blind; sick people who were
anxious to get well. and troubled people
in whose family there was some one dead
or dying If he had a purse at all it was
empty, or we would have heard what
was done with the contents at the post
mortem. Poor? The pigeon in the dove
cote, the rabbit in its burrow, the silk
worm in its cocoon, the bee in its hive is
better provided for, better off, better
sheltered Aye, the brute creation has a
| home on earth, which Christ has not.
If on windy days the raven
Gambol like a dancing skiff,
Not the less he loves his haven
| On the bosom Of the cliff.
| IL almost with eagle pinion
| Ger the Alps the chamois roam
Yet he has some small dominion
Which no doubt he calls his home
But the Crown Prince of all heavenly
| dominion has less than the raven, less
than the channels, for he was homeless.
| Ave. in the history of the universe there
| is no other instance of such coming down.
| Who can count the miles from the top of
| the throne to the bottom of the crossi
| Cleopatra, giving a banquet to Antony,
| took a pearl worth a hundred thousand
dollars and dissolved it in vinegar and
swallowed it, But when our Prince, ac-
cording to the evangelist, in his last
| hours took the vinegar, in it had been
dissolved all the pearls of his heavenly
royalty Down until there was no other
depth for him to touch, troubled until
there was no other harassment to suffer,
poor until there was no other pauperism
| to torture. Billions of dollars spent in
wars to destroy men, who will furnish
the statistics of the value of that precious
blood that was shed to save US? eye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
| that, though he was rich, yet foI your
sakes he became poor.
Only those who study this text in two
| places can fully reach its power, the Holy
Land of Asia Minor and the holy land OF
heaven. How l should like some day tc
take drink out of Jacob well, and take
a sail on Galilee, and read the Sermon on
| the Mount while standing on Olivet, and
| see the wilderness where Christ was
| tempted, and be some afternoon on Cal
vary at about o'clock. the hour al
| which closed the crucifxion. and sit
under the sycamores and by the side OF
| brooks, and think and dream and pray
| about the poverty of him who came. oui
souls to save. But you and / will prob
ably be denied that and so here, in
another continent and in another hemi-
| sphere, and in scenes as different as pos
sible, we recount as well we may how
| poor our heavenly Prince became. And
in the other holy land above, we may all
study the riches that he left behind when
he started for earthly expedition. Come,
let us bargain to meet each other at the
door of the Fathers mansion, or on the
bank of the river Just where it rolls from
under the throne, or at the outside gate
Jesus got the contrast by exchanging that
| world for this; we will get it by exchang-
| ing this world for that. There and then
| you will understand more of the wonders
of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
who, Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes became poor"
Yes, grace, free grace, sovereign grace,
omnipotent grace. Among the thous-
ands of words in the language there is nc
more queenly word. 1t means free and
unmerited kindness. My text has nc
monopoly of the word. One hundred
and twenty-nine times does the Bible
eulogize grace. 1t is a door swung wide
| oHNh W iSt H4tO the potTuOn OF OTOu all the
millions who choose to enter it.
John Newton sang of it when he
wrote:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
| That saved a wretch like mel
Philip Doddridge put it into all hymn
nology when he wrote:
| Gracel It's charming sound
| Harmonious to the ear;
Heaven with the echo shall resound
| And all the world shall hear
One of John Bunyan's great books is
entitled Astounding Grace. 1T is all
of grace that am saved has been on
the lips of hundreds of dying Christians.
The boy Sammy was right when, being
examined for admission into church mem
bership, he was asked: Whose work was
your salvation and he answered: Part
mine and part Gods" Then the exam
liner asked: ''What part did you do.
Sammy and the answer was: II op-
posed God all could, and he did the
rest!' Oh, the height of it, the depth of
1t, the length of it, the breadth of it, the
grace of God, Mr.. Fletcher having writ
ten pamphlet that pleased the king, the
king offered to compensate him, and
Fletcher answered: There is only one
thing | want, and that is more grace. -
Yes, my blood bought hearers, grace to
live by and grace to die by. Grace that
saved the publican, that saved lydia.
that saved the dying thief, that saved